Numbers, Please

An interesting article at Worldchanging about corporate green accountability, product backtories, and the winnowing of sustainable companies from those simply greenwashing. The article challenges a piece by Chris Anderson, of Wired, about the sustainability of paper distribution. The basic argument of the Worldchanging piece is that Wired should know its own environmental backstory and, through this knowledge, should be able to produce hard numbers about how it is and is not sustainable. The article also makes the connection between this knowledge and good brand imagery. The comments had a particularly interesting discussion.